The futuristic models might become a permanent installation

February 15, 2018

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The people in the Fisher Body Craftsman Guild were car designers and modelers with an eye on the future -- a future that has largely forgotten about them. Fisher Body hosted a competition for young people, from 11 to 19, to design cars and build models. General Motors gave away cash prizes and college scholarships to the winners from 1930 to its end in 1968, with a pause during WWII. The remaining Guild models are finally getting brought back into the light of day at the Gilmore Car Museum near Kalamazoo, Mich.

The exhibit, set to run from April 2019 to October 2019, will show off memorabilia and models from the program’s nearly 38-year run. According to a post on the Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild Facebook page, there are talks with the museum about doing a permanent installation of around 100 models.

Porsches are cool. I think we can all agree on that, right? Those who have driven them, those who are lucky enough to own one, can attest to their remarkable roadholding, perfect balance and powerful ...

The Gilmore Museum’s exhibit won’t be the first to display the Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild’s efforts -- there are displays in the Smithsonian and the Piston Palace -- a small automotive museum in Rhode Island. What sets the Gilmore’s exhibit apart is that its curators want it to be the largest collection of models assembled.

According to an article on Hemmings, the largest single gathering of Fisher Guild models is around 85. The organizers of the Gilmore are shooting for about 100 models to fill the exhibit, which might be ambitious considering how these models might have been treated after their competition days.

We’ll try to get a sneak preview before it goes live, but you can check it out in 14 months at the Gilmore Car Museum.